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Sync Up Virtual Servers and Storage

As virtual machines proliferate, new tools help protect data and enhance performance. As deployments of virtualized servers proliferate in enterprise IT environments, there are growing concerns associated with creating, managing and protecting these newly created virtual machines (VMs). Because VMs are so prolific, there are problems with backing them up, managing them, migrating data among them and controlling their sprawl. But new products help IT administrators back up and protect VMs, as well as manage and monitor the connections between them and the networked storage resources they use. Industry pundits estimate that as many as 70% to 80% of VMs rely on storage resources from Fibre Channel (FC) or IP SANs, or NAS. With such a reliance on shared storage, the problems mount for storage administrators charged with not only managing, but backing up and protecting, the environment. Virtual machine backup blues Chief among the concerns in backing up VMs is the cost of software licenses for backup software. Most backup vendors ...

Features
in this issue

Our sixth annual Products of the Year awards recognize the 15 new or enhanced storage products that rose to the top in 2007. The editors of Storage magazine and SearchStorage.com, along with a panel of users and industry experts, selected these winning products based on their innovation and performance, among other factors.

As storage becomes more complex and costly, businesses are seeking storage professionals who can architect various tiers of networked storage, document what they've done, and help their business units select the type of storage that best supports their applications' requirements at a price that makes the executive suite smile.

Virtual machines (VMs) can be a boon to businesses because they allow consolidation, but they can be a burden when IT considers the complexities of backing them up, and managing and tracking them. It will behoove storage administrators to learn the best ways to protect VMs in their environment and, with management and monitoring tools, control their growth.

Columns
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Backup success rates are improving, but reliable data recovery can still be a nightmare. The good news is that backup reporting tools can give you more insight than ever into the sometimes mysterious process of data protection.

Tighter budgets could mean some belt-tightening in your storage shop. To save money, you might have to spend a little to take advantage of some of the key trends for 2008: virtualization, green storage and storage as a service.